


Izumi Week 2016

by Skyler



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-06-02 05:48:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6553468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyler/pseuds/Skyler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! You may also enjoy my other stories:</p><p><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/3721117">No Gods, No Masters</a> - What if the Red Lotus managed to kidnap an infant Korra? (Finished!)<br/><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/5248682">Kyoshi: Swan Song</a> - Avatar Kyoshi recounts her life to Korra. (In Progress!)<br/><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/6463846">Burn It Out</a> - A oneshot gift for <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/HenryMercury">HenryMercury</a> about Korra meeting a different old lady in Book 4.<br/><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/5181146">Prompt Madness</a> - All the drabble prompts I get on <a href="http://fell-dragon-domain.tumblr.com/">my tumblr</a> in one simple document.</p></blockquote>





	1. Day One: Girl's Night Out

“You were the one who said you needed a night out. We’re not letting you hole yourself up in the hotel and try to work.”

Izumi groaned as Kya grabbed her by the arm and frog-marched her along the boulevard to the pro-bending arena. Narrow columns of light cut in broad arcs across the cloudy, starless sky, visible from all of Republic City. She had seen pictures of the reconstructed building, a gleaming gem set proudly in the bay where its predecessor stood before the Earth Empire’s invasion years prior, but it didn’t quite compare to seeing it in person. How obvious, she thought. “I think you’re the one who said that, Kya. And then you and Lin bum-rushed me out here.”

“Yeah, you really need better security,” Lin said on her other side. She nudged a few pedestrians out of the way as they walked. “Relax, Izumi. The Fire Nation won’t fall apart in one night.”

“Clearly we’ve read different history books…”

“This is fun when Equalists aren’t storming the place, I promise. It even got the stick out of Tenzin’s ass for a while.”

“All right, all right.”

With a plain coat and her hair in a simpler style than she was used to, no one gave Izumi a second glance. Lin and Kya were much more recognizable in the city, and one more woman between them could easily pass unnoticed. There was a certain freedom in floating through a sea of anonymity, unbound from the long list of expectations always hanging over her in her own nation. Each step came a little easier, each breath of night air fresh and lively.

It didn’t hurt that she was there with two old friends, either. Lin and Kya had known her since before they knew words like _princess_ and _Fire Lord_ , and they stubbornly insisted on maintaining that informality whenever they could. It was a nice change, she had to admit.

She made a good show of resisting, but it was easy for Izumi to relish in Kya’s strong grip on her arm as they went inside, and she took a step closer when Kya let her go. The frantic shuffle of people in the arena’s foyer was an altogether different energy than she was used to in the palace, an excited bustle breaking into streams of people filing through doors to the stands or searching around for friends. A few of the teams on the schedule for the evening were signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans, but she saw little of it before they guided her to a set of stairs leading up to the box seats.

Their booth was situated just to the left of center, elevated enough for them to easily take in the entire field while some staff walked the playing surface to ensure it was completely clean. The players would make short work of their efforts soon enough. Izumi took the middle seat while Kya sat to her left and put her feet up on the railing, stretching out as the stands filled up above them.

“Get comfortable, I want to see what’s on tap,” Lin said, closing the door behind her.

“So?” Kya asked. One finger poked lightly at Izumi’s unadorned topknot, making it bob up and down. “When are you going to start trembling because you don’t have some important paperwork in front of you?”

“You really ought to leave the jokes to Bumi, he got the sense of humor between the three of you.”

“That’s okay, I got the looks.”

Izumi had no good retort ready for that. All she could do was relax in her seat and pass a tiny bit of flame back and forth between each fingertip on one hand, her nervous little habit that persisted through every attempt to subdue it. “I don’t spend all my time working, you know,” Izumi finally said, moving the flame to her palm and closing her fist to snuff it. “We even have pro-bending in Kasai, I go at the start of the season.”

“No, that’s knockoff pro-bending, they’re all firebenders in that league.”

“We don’t have a great many waterbenders and earthbenders…in the Fire Nation,” Izumi said flatly.

Lin returned with three small glasses of kaoliang and took the seat on Izumi’s right, growling when Kya reached over for one of the drinks. “Back off, these are for me.”

“Oh, stop it,” Kya said, snatching two glasses and giving one to Izumi. Lin had gone right for the strong stuff as always, and it burned powerfully all the way down her throat. It was rare for firebenders to get properly drunk, and Izumi could never claim to have gotten as trashed as her friends, but the kaoliang seemed to set her well on her way.

Lin cracked a wry smile as Izumi belted the whole thing back and hissed in satisfaction. “And you said you didn’t need a night off.”

“Drunk Izumi!” Kya said, throwing her hands up and spilling some of her own drink down her bare arm. She bent it back into the glass, red-faced and looking intently out at the arena to avoid the grins of her friends. “I was excited, okay? We barely ever get to see you since you started running the Fire Nation.”

“We didn’t see much of you while you were the chief of the Southern Water Tribe,” she countered. Lin nodded in between sips of her drink, intent on savoring it slowly. Izumi sighed and laid an arm across Kya’s shoulder. “Look, let’s not argue about this. I don’t like being busy all the time any more than you two. The first match is about to start, let’s make the most of the time we do have together.”

For as quick as Kya could get testy, she could bounce back to her usual self just as fast. She scooted over in her seat and nodded as she put a hand up over Izumi’s on her shoulder. “Okay, who do you like in this matchup?”

Three unlucky bets later, Izumi had lost a map of all the Fire Nation palace’s secret passages, her personal airship, and the naming rights to her navy’s new carrier. “I really thought the Lion Vultures had it that time,” she said, watching staff fish them out of the water.

“You should really quit while you still have the shirt on your back.” Lin’s speech was slightly slurred, a result of the half-dozen empty glasses she had balanced on the railing with uncanny precision. “Kinda surprised Kya didn’t go for that first.”

“Why can’t you be a quiet drunk, like your sister?” Kya asked, reaching around Izumi to whack Lin in the back of the head. “Su just gets sleepy and giggly…all right, do you want to win back your blimp and _Katara_?”

Izumi gripped hard at the frame of her glasses. “You can’t name one of our ships after your mother.”

“We’ll see. Come on, there’s one more match. Double or nothing, winner take all. I’ll even let you pick the team. You win, you get your stuff back. I win,” Kya said, flicking at the pendant on her necklace, “I get another one of these.”

The first one had been a nightmare to make, and Izumi could see around the corner of what she was saying, but a good bet was hard to resist. “Deal. I hope you didn’t put too much thought into how you’d redecorate my airship,” she said, looking through her program and finally tapping her finger slowly over the last matchup of the night. “I’ll take the Fire Ferrets to win.”

“It’s like you want me to have your stuff, but it’s not my fault if you can’t resist an inside bet. They’re not the same team that—Korra?”

As the bridges extended to ferry the players onto the arena, Kya pulled her feet off the railing and fumed. The Avatar and the rest of her old team were playing, and their opponents seemed to realize it at about the same time. Most of the crowd cheered, while the sections supporting the other team groaned in unison.

Calling it a match was too generous, Izumi thought. The other team put up a good effort, but they couldn’t get a hit in on three master benders, one of whom was the Avatar. At least it was sporting. Kya grumbled as she fished the airship keys from her pocket and returned them. “I’d be happy to give you a ride, if you want.”

“I’ll bet you would,” Lin mumbled, slumped over in her seat. They both turned their own particular shades of red, and all Lin could do was give them a broad smile.

“Kya’s right, you get too talkative when you drink. Take a nap.”

Lin stuck out her tongue and remained defiantly conscious. They stayed in their booth until the stands were nearly empty, both to make their exit easier and to give themselves a moment to shake off the effects of the kaoliang. Stumbling out wasn’t exactly the image she wanted to project if someone recognized her.

“Come on, Chief,” Kya said, putting one of Lin’s arms over her shoulder as they got to their feet. A sudden and rather unbecoming pang of jealousy flared deep in Izumi’s chest, but she shook it off. It was easy to lose the feeling amidst the dizziness that hit her when she stood up. “Are you hungry? There’s a place nearby that makes some good noodles. My treat.”

“I could go for some food,” Izumi said as they made their way slowly down the stairs. “What about her?”

“Where did he get to…there he is. Hey, Detective!”

One of the Avatar’s friends, the firebender if she remembered correctly, turned at the sound of her voice in time to have Kya almost throw Lin at him. “Your boss needs to sleep one off.”

“Don’t look at me like that, Mako,” Lin grumbled, leaning on him for support.

“Problem solved. Shall we?” Kya asked, holding out her arm. Izumi hooked her own arm through and squeezed.

“What a gentlewoman.”

It was far too easy to let old memories come simmering to the surface as they went along, navigating the darkened streets of Republic City’s harbor district. The promise of a quiet, private meal, the sweetly awkward way Kya tried to set the pace despite having the shorter stride between them, the protective, possessive pressure of Kya’s fingers gripping at her arm…she felt like little more than a teenager again whose only care in the world was the girl at her side. It was a welcome change, really.

“I remember this place, this is the same dive you took me to when we were kids,” Izumi said as Kya wove them through the unoccupied tables with practiced ease. “Amazing it’s still standing.”

“Narook’s isn’t a dive, it has character!”

She wasn’t there for the character, that was for sure. Izumi made no more objections as they claimed a table in the back, a small rickety thing that was so narrow their legs bumped together underneath. That may very well have been by design, she thought as a waitress came by with menus. “You know it’s spending time with you that’s important, not where we do it.”

Kya’s face could hold a gorgeous blush.

Izumi had been too long away from Republic City and her friend, and they had more than enough catching up for whiling away several quiet hours in an old noodle shop. There was a pleasant ease in talking to Kya about whatever popped into their minds, an opportunity to be frank and unmeasured she didn’t even realize she had missed so much. Missed Kya so much.

“I think our waitress is giving us the ‘it’s time to go’ look,” Izumi said, picking at the last few noodles in her bowl.

A light fog had fallen over the district, forming a hazy interplay with the softly lit streetlamps dotting the road. They picked up their pace to catch a streetcar trundling their way, and found it empty at the late hour. Both of them were too tired for pretense, and they threaded their fingers together as they took their seats. “You really should come visit more often,” Kya said.

“We both know it’s not that simple.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Izumi gasped as Kya nuzzled against her, a taunt she was all too familiar with, one she was badly tempted to rise to. “You know, you’re welcome to come visit _me_. All of my children are off on their own now, and it’s been…quiet, since Ren passed.”

The mention of her late husband made Kya stiffen up, but she relaxed shortly after and squeezed Izumi’s hand tight. “How well do you think I’d do stuck in a palace?”

“Oh, I don’t have any delusions about you being a kept woman,” Izumi said quietly, running her free hand through a stray lock of Kya’s hair. “It was nearly impossible to get you to stay in any tavern for more than a night or two when we were in the Earth Kingdom.”

“I’m half-nomad, I like to wander,” Kya countered.

A dimly lit sign shone through the fog and indicated the entrance to the hotel coming up along the road. They hopped from the streetcar onto the sidewalk, and Kya caught Izumi when she stumbled on the curb and nearly lost her balance.

“Whoa, I’ve got you,” she said, pulling the Fire Lord upright. Neither of them were in any hurry to let go. “I’ve got you.”

Maybe it was the lingering traces of the alcohol, or the exhaustion, or the way the whole night seemed to wind everything back forty years. Izumi leaned down to close the small height difference between them and pressed their lips together tentatively, questioningly. It could only really be called a kiss in the barest of terms. She knew she had no right, not after the way she’d ended things, but she let her arms hang loose so Kya could pull away if she wanted. She didn’t. Kya kissed her back with long decades to make up for, holding on so tight it almost took the air from Izumi’s lungs. Her salty, sweet taste brought along too many memories to process, and instead all Izumi could do was let a few tears well up and roll down her cheeks.

They pulled back by inches, and then only to draw much-needed breath. It was only after the ninth or tenth desperate, pleading kiss that they remembered they were on a sidewalk in the middle of the night. Nervous laughs filled the air between them, like two teenagers caught in a quiet corner by their parents again. “Can I encourage you to wander upstairs instead of back to the island tonight?” Izumi asked, straightening her glasses with one hand. The other still held onto Kya’s, as if she was afraid she would slip away without the contact.

She grinned and pulled Izumi toward the hotel entrance. “I’d say you need more nights out, Your Majesty.”

“Oh, definitely.”


	2. Day Two: Sexytime (NSFW)

“We don’t have to do this, you know.”

Kya pulled her hand away, leaving a searing absence on Izumi’s cheek. Her lips were still alternating between numb and electrified from their last awkward bout of kisses, Kya’s sweet sea-air taste hanging heady on her tongue. Every breath came hot and ragged with an unsteady rise and fall of her chest. The princess glanced over at her bedroom door, barred as securely as she could make it, and then back to Kya, brown hair fallen in messy strands all around her face. “Do you not want to?” Izumi asked, straightening up so she wasn’t leaning on Kya’s legs.

“Oh no, I want to, I just…wanted to make sure you wanted to.”

Izumi grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down on the bed, brushing the hair from in front of Kya’s eyes. She worked in closer until they were up against one another, legs sliding along the cool silk sheets. A few candles in the windowsill made the light around them flicker and sent shadows dancing across their skin as Izumi held her gaze.

“I’ve never wanted anything more,” she whispered, tracing one finger along the smooth line of Kya’s jaw and drawing out a long, deep shudder for her effort.

She grinned and pulled at the hem of Izumi’s blouse, her hand reaching to the bare skin underneath and up to the small swell of her breast. “I bet you say that to all the cute waterbenders.”

“Only one.” Izumi wouldn’t rise to her jibe, but she couldn’t help trembling at Kya’s touch. Every inch her fingers explored was blessedly fresh and new, so raw and so hot they might as well have left fire in their wake. A familiar tightness started coiling in her belly as she nibbled at Kya’s lower lip. “Only one.”

“Then I’m a very lucky girl…can I take this off?” she asked, tugging at her blouse. Izumi nodded and they sat up again, wracked with sudden nervousness as they began to slowly undress one another. Kya took her time, popping each button from her blouse at an agonizing pace without ever losing her grip. “Wow,” Kya breathed as she shrugged Izumi out of her top and let her pale chest fall bare. All she could do for a moment was look and admire, alternately biting her lip and searching uselessly for words. Blush flared up everywhere her eyes wandered, heat following with it, and finally she shifted closer so Izumi could pull loose the fastenings on her tunic.

Every bit of blue fabric that fell gave way to more smooth dark skin, and Izumi fumbled more than once in her haste. She dipped down in frustration and nipped at the base of Kya’s neck, suckling lightly and darting her tongue across the soft skin there, down to her collarbone.

A little moan answered her, nails raking across her naked back all the while, and Izumi finally found the last fastening to make her tunic come undone. Kya pulled the whole thing over her head in one quick motion and tossed it aside. “You’re overdressed,” she said, hooking her fingers into the top of Izumi’s pants.

Kya seemed set on taking the lead, and Izumi was happy to let her, lying back as Kya tugged down her pants and threw them into the growing pile of clothes on the floor. She smirked and ran one finger along the neatly trimmed line of hair between Izumi’s legs, making her shiver. “You’re so beautiful, Your Highness.”

“Don’t call me that,” Princess Izumi said, deciding that Kya could do something much more productive with her mouth before pulling her down into another kiss. The weight of her body was a comforting pressure as they moved against one another, touching, exploring, finding out what felt good. Kya’s tongue flitted over her lips and she parted them gladly. The candles nearby flared when Kya pulled back and carefully removed Izumi’s glasses, leaving the world beyond the smiling girl in front of her in a blur. She didn’t have time to enjoy the propriety before a hand moving up her thigh made coherent thought impossible. “K-Kya—”

The rest of the words caught in her throat when two fingers tapped gently on her clit. Izumi arched her back and pushed down against Kya’s hand, pleasure winding up inside her, so lost in the new sensation that she hardly noticed Kya kissing her way down her chest. All she wanted was more of that wonderful, insistent tapping, growing firmer until it was almost painful with sensation. Hot, wet lips locked around one stiff nipple, the barest bit of suction teasing out jolts of pleasure that radiated all throughout her chest.

She moved on far too soon for Izumi’s taste, kissing along the taut muscle of her stomach and across her iliac crest before gliding slowly, torturously slowly, down along the inside of her thigh. Kya looked up at her, smirking as best she could, before finally drawing her tongue in a long, slow line and lingering over her sore pink clit, trembling along with the rest of her. “Kya,” she moaned, tilting from side to side as her girlfriend worked, unable to keep herself still. Their hands laced up, and Izumi felt heat building up all through her core. “Don’t—stop—ah!”

Every small lash of Kya’s tongue sent a new shock rippling through her, making the pressure build more and more as Izumi writhed over the silk sheets, desperate for the release being dangled in front of her. Kya was in no hurry though, scattering light kisses all over when her tongue needed a moment’s rest. The room was heavy with whimpers and warmth and the mingling scents of sweat and arousal.

Kya picked up from her teasing pace and slipped her hands out of Izumi’s grasp, holding onto her legs instead as she redoubled her efforts. Izumi tweaked hard at one nipple and threaded her other hand up in Kya’s hair, giving her an insistent nudge downward. The shameful little noises escaping were small and unimportant when she was so close to the edge. “Oh fuck, Kya, I’m—I love you—”

Izumi dissolved into stifled gasps, and sparks flew around her twitching, exhausted body. Her display made Kya pause to watch, and she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end as Kya crawled back up beside her. The taste of her own arousal was still heavy on Kya’s lips, sharp and sweet and caught up in their hungry, desperate kiss. Izumi reached for her glasses and brought her girlfriend into greater focus, bright blue eyes shining as a grin broke over her face.

“I love you, too.”


	3. Day Three: Sadness

_Thud. Thud. Thud._

Each knife flew among a flurry of sparks and lodged deep in the training dummy, forming a rough circle in the torso before Izumi darted up, struck it with the end of her fan, and threw burst after burst of flame at it. Her bedroom soon became sweltering, but she didn’t stop until she was well and truly scraping at her reserves of chi. The lacquer on the wood dummy had burned away hours ago, and smoke rose from one of the joints until she snuffed the flames and started to pull out her knives. A dull ache seized her throwing arm, every twitch of her fingers burning up to her shoulder, and the heat was starting to make her dizzy. She barely heard the knock at her door as she yanked the first knife free. “Go away,” she snapped, poking the tip of the blade to make sure it hadn’t lost its edge.

“Last time I checked, I told you what to do, not the other way around.”

Izumi sighed and turned back to see Mai standing in the doorway, hands hidden in the sleeves of her robe. She stiffened up and went back to her spot with just the one knife. “Mother. Did you need something?”

“Your father said you haven’t been eating.”

She plucked the knife out of Izumi’s hand and flung it without looking, striking the dummy between its drawn-on eyes. “I haven’t been hungry.”

“For three days?”

Mai took her by the sleeve and led Izumi over to her bed. There were too many memories there, and Izumi sat on the floor instead. Mai eased down beside her, a little slower, and then laid an arm over her shoulder. “Do we really have to do this?”

“As quietly noble as it might seem to shut out the world and let yourself waste away, it’s not. I’ve tried. Talk to me, Turtle Duck.”

She bristled at the pet name, but ultimately let Mai nudge her in beside her. “I _have_ talked about it with Dad. Loudly. It didn’t help. He has a sister, but I have to be the one responsible for the country. Responsible for our family,” she added bitterly.

“Kiyi and your cousins have no claim to the throne, you know that,” Mai said, her usual frown levelling out into the nearest thing Izumi recognized as a wistful smile. “Suki actually wanted to have more children, but she barely survived your pregnancy, and your father wouldn’t hear of it. That could’ve neatly avoided this whole situation, now that I think about it.”

Izumi drew her legs up to her chest. “Is that supposed to make me feel better or worse?” she asked. “I might’ve been able to stay with Kya if I hadn’t nearly killed Mom before I was even out of the womb?”

“Maybe that was a poor choice of words,” Mai said, producing one of her own knives from her sleeve and balancing it on her fingertip. Izumi had never quite gotten the hang of handling them so deftly, but then she had her firebending to fall back on, too. “I meant…life doesn’t always turn out the way you expect it to.”

“You’ll understand if that’s cold comfort right now.”

“What happened, exactly? We weren’t expecting you back for at least another few months.”

She stared at the wood slats of her bedroom floor and took off her glasses, folding them up and placing them at her side. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“My mother was fine with letting me sulk,” Mai said. “I’m trying to be a slightly better than she was. That doesn’t include leaving you to wallow.”

“You and Mom and Dad are perfectly good parents. This just isn’t something you can fix.”

“I still can’t let you hide in here, it reminds me too much of my younger self. At least have some tea, I’ll go and find Suki and we’ll get your mind on other things.”

Izumi nodded, slowly. She wasn’t going to argue and say it was a futile effort. Mai slipped from the room, leaving her to pull her topknot loose and rest the back of her head against her mattress. How much simpler things could have been if she or Kya had been a boy, she thought. Much simpler. Of course, nothing about her family was simple. The tears didn’t have any sobbing or retching to accompany them, and instead they slipped down her cheeks without ceremony. She rather thought she had cried herself out on the airship back to the capital already, but there they were until a handkerchief dabbed them away. Everything was blurry without her glasses on, but she could make out Suki crouched down beside her. “Thanks, Mom.”

She sat on the floor and fixed a stray lock of Izumi’s hair. “I know it hurts, honey. It always does.”

Mai returned with a pot of tea and set it down to steep. When the scent of jasmine filled the air it lifted her spirits by small degrees—she had her great-uncle’s affinity for the stuff, as her father liked to say—until she remembered how partial Kya was to the flavor as well. Her spirits came crashing down again.

“I ended it,” Izumi finally said, pouring the tea with shaking hands. “We both knew it was coming, we knew I had to come back here eventually and take the throne, but I…I’m the one who stuck the knife in and twisted it.” She almost laughed despite herself at the metaphor. Suki squeezed her shoulder, but Mai only nodded sagely and took a small sip of her tea.

“You’re so much like Azula. So all-or-nothing.”

“What were my options? I’m twenty-nine, it was a little late to act like a child and refuse to come home when a whole country needs me.”

Another little nod. “I don’t think anyone would’ve looked askance at the Fire Lord having a consort,” Suki said. At least she could speak from experience. “People are always going to gossip about you as it is. Comes with being a public figure.”

Izumi’s face burned at the suggestion and stared into her teacup. “Kya isn’t the type to like being cooped up in a palace. A beautiful cage is still a cage.”

“Even half-nomads like to wander,” Mai said. She started to set her teacup down on the nightstand, but paused when a small length of red fabric caught her eye. Izumi groaned inwardly as she picked it up and examined the small golden flame carved on the front. “This doesn’t look like any of your jewelry.”

“It’s not,” Izumi said, snatching it away. Doing so was untoward, perhaps, but it was _hers_. “It’s a southern-style betrothal necklace. With some considerations for Fire Nation fashion.”

She flipped it right-side up and tied it around her neck, half in defiance, half to grasp at something she wasn’t meant to have. “I love her,” Izumi said, shaking. “I love her and I hurt her and now she’ll never want to see me again.”

Her vision was too blotted to see her mothers wrapping their arms around her and holding her as she cried.


	4. Day Four: Tea

“Is it really wise for both of us to go?”

They both had to steady themselves as the airship touched down on its mooring. A few workers scrambled to secure the whole thing to the ground, likely unaware of its passengers. Zuko nodded and looked out over Republic City, where a single column of green-yellow light cut through the midday sky. “Korra assured me that the route is safe.”

“It still seems so strange that you can pick up a friendship again after twenty years with someone else entirely,” Izumi said as the gangplank began to descend. He smiled and laughed to himself, as if remembering some private joke.

“Some friendships last longer than something as trivial as lifetimes. I think that’ll become clear today.”

“If you say so, Father.”

The Avatar was waiting for them on the tarmac with a small sleek Satomobile, fiddling with her glider to pass the time until she noticed them coming toward her. “Lord Zuko, Fire Lord Izumi! How was your flight?”

“Finding the city is quite a bit easier with that portal thrusting up out of the ground,” Izumi said. “It’s good to see you again, Avatar Korra.”

She bowed slightly, while Zuko was a bit more familiar, wrapping her in a brief hug Korra was happy to return. “How’s the city been?”

“Rebuilt, finally. A lot of Kuvira’s earthbenders and metalbenders accepted work detail, so expanding and building the new borough went faster than anyone expected. Traffic is pretty light this time of day, we should head out.”

Whatever humor Izumi found in the idea of being driven around by the Avatar quickly faded when Korra actually started driving. At least, what she was doing very loosely resembled driving. Her knuckles turned white from gripping the seat in front of her as Korra sped down the road, and Izumi had to wonder if they’d entered a race she wasn’t aware of. Zuko, for his part, seemed to enjoy it quite a bit more, all the way up until the car screeched to a halt. The barrier that walled off the spirit portal was getting overgrown with thick green vines, but they retreated when Korra shooed them away.

“It’s right through here,” she said, opening a gate set into the fence. “Watch your step on the vines, and just keep walking once you hit the light. I hope the map I made for you is still up to date.”

“Beg pardon?” Izumi asked. Korra laughed nervous and scratched the back of her neck.

“Sometimes the spirit world sort of…changes where things are. Like this one time when Asami and I tried to get back to this grove we found—err, anyway. You always get to where you’re going, I promise.”

Izumi pursed her lips, but her father beckoned her on. “We’ll be fine. Thanks for the ride, Korra. Haven’t had excitement like that in a long time.”

Excitement was one way of putting it, Izumi thought. Korra wished them luck and climbed back in her car to cut a swath back down the road. The frantic sounds of horns reached them before they turned back to the spirit portal at the heart of the city. It was a good deal bigger up close, and Izumi felt her mouth go dry as she took in the sheer size of the thing. She had done her share of exploring when she was younger, but apart from a night with some cactus juice she and Kya had always remained firmly in the human world. Zuko put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and they took the first few steps toward the portal.

The light and the helices dancing inside it had an odd warmth as they stepped through, mindful of Korra’s advice to keep walking, and once it stopped washing out their vision they found themselves in a field of violet flowers at the base of a chain of jagged bluish mountains. Rather than the midday of the human world they had just left, the part of the spirit world they found themselves in seemed locked in twilight. “This is beautiful,” Izumi said, reaching down to touch one of the flowers. The petals twirled under her fingertips while Zuko unrolled his map.

“It really is…this says we should head away from the mountains and toward the sound of water. I guess cardinal directions don’t mean much here.”

Wandering, at least, was something Izumi could do. The sting in her calves was familiar and almost comforting, taking her back to all the hiking through the Earth Kingdom she did in her youth. It seemed to take more of a toll on her father, but he stayed resolute and kept pace with her. The flowers began to thin out after about a half-hour, and then the field gave itself over to low, rolling plains. Water was rushing somewhere nearby.

“So would you like to tell me exactly why we’re here now?” Izumi asked. “I don’t think it was for the views, as nice as they are.”

“No, not the views, Turtle Duck.” Izumi had long since given up trying to shake the pet name her parents had given her, but she still grimaced when they used it, even when they were alone. “I think it’ll be better if you see this for yourself, though—ah, here we are.”

What was _here_ was still less than clear. It looked to be a somewhat antiquated little building, the kind she might’ve seen in Ba Sing Se, with a handful of long tables dotted around the front. At one of them were two remarkably human-looking spirits, one an old man and the other a woman that looked closer to her age, both leaning over a pai sho board that looked to be in its endgame. There seemed to be an unusual abundance of white lotus tiles on one side.

“Uncle!”

Oh…that one wasn’t a spirit, then. She knew her great-uncle had gone into the spirit world permanently, but it was still a shock to come face to face with someone she had only seen in pictures. Zuko rushed over with surprising spryness as Iroh stood and threw his arms around him, almost shaking with happiness. It was rare to see her father so animated, and it brought a small smile to her face. “I was wondering when you’d come by the new shop, Zuko. And I see you brought your lovely daughter with you,” he said, giving her a warm smile.

“It’s very nice to finally meet you, great-uncle Iroh. My father’s told me so much about you.”

“The honor is all mine, Izumi.”

“Can we get back to the game now?” the woman asked, threading her fingers together as she examined the board. Her father stiffened up at the voice. “I _was_ winning before you interrupted, Zuzu.”

 _Zuzu_? No one called her father that. The woman glanced over and Izumi saw an unsettling reflection of her own daughter as she looked the Fire Lord up and down with sharp amber eyes. Her hair might’ve been lighter, streaks of iron gray and white among the black, but there was no mistaking her cheekbones, or that jawline. She scoffed. “I thought you’d be taller.”

“Aunt Azula…?”

“How perceptive of you.”

“Uncle, what is she doing here?” Zuko asked, one hand going to the old scar on his chest. “She, she…”

“Your sister is on her own path, much like you were,” Iroh said, sitting back down to his game. “Granted, it took her a little longer to come around—”

“She shot me!”

“I never said it was a short path.”

Zuko didn’t seem convinced, and kept on with his uncle while Azula got up from the table and beckoned Izumi after her, into the tea shop. It was done up in a Middle Ring style, with heavily shaded lamps hanging from the rafters that didn’t seem to cast any light. She sat in the seat Azula motioned to while her aunt took a teapot off its low flame. Something about the scent of it didn’t seem right, and she held one hand under it with a burst of fire in her palm. “You’re here physically,” Izumi said as Azula poured her a cup of tea.

“Your perception really is second to none.” She poured herself a cup and seat in the seat opposite Izumi. _Is she planning on insulting me all afternoon?_ “So Zuko gave up the throne for you.”

It might have been phrased as a question, but nothing in her tone suggested she didn’t already know the answer. “He abdicated to keep spreading Avatar Aang’s message of peace. There were things I wanted more than to be the Fire Lord.”

Azula’s impassive expression faltered for the first time, staring blankly at her niece as if she couldn’t understand what she was hearing. Her recovery was quick, but probably not as smooth as she intended. “I’m choosing to believe there’s some wisdom in seeing rulership as a burden rather than a privilege,” she said, drawing one sharp nail along the lip of her teacup. “Although I can’t for the life of me think of what it is.”

“That sounds rather in line with everything my father told me about you.”

She took a long draught of her tea before responding, bright amber eyes staring down her niece. “Does it…I’m flattered he could make the time to run me down to you. I thought maybe upending every marriage tradition in the country would’ve taken most of his time.”

“It’s not like he made you out to be some kind of monster,” Izumi said, ignoring the barb. “He had the most nice things to say about you, except maybe for Aunt Kiyi. I think seeing you again so suddenly was just a shock.”

“How is Kiyi?”

Her voice softened for the first time when her half-sister came up, and Izumi shrugged in a petty attempt to taunt her for a moment. “She and her family live with us in the palace.”

“Good, good,” she said, setting her empty teacup aside.

“It begs the question of where you’ve been, though. You’re a princess of the blood and definitely not a spirit.”

Azula took a deep breath and leaned back in her seat. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dreamed about my old apartments, but…the dreams never stop there. Getting the throne, having that power, it all feeds into itself and I’m never satisfied. Being near the palace would only make that worse.”

“Hmm.”

She cocked her head as Izumi nursed her tea. “What?”

“That doesn’t sound anything like what I’ve heard about you. My mothers were…less generous with their opinions than Father was. Maybe Iroh was right, and you are changing.”

“Or I’m putting on a big act and trying to trick my way onto the throne,” Azula said, lowering her voice to a dangerous, taunting pitch. “How would you know?”

“I wouldn’t. I guess I’ll just have to trust you.”

Azula didn’t seem to know what to say to that. Izumi poured another cup for both of them and laid a hand over her aunt’s. She twitched as if she was ready to withdraw, but then stilled, smiled, and sipped her tea.


	5. Day Five: Awkward Turtleducks

“Wow, you really do have two left feet,” Su said, rubbing at her boot. “Maybe we should try something else for a while. Something that doesn’t involve you stepping all over me.”

Izumi groaned and sunk onto her sofa. “This is hopeless, I can’t do anything that isn’t throwing knives or whacking people with fans or bending. I’m sorry I dragged you all the way out here, Su.”

“Free trip to the Fire Nation? Yeah, I’ve never felt so put out.” She sat down on the other end of the couch and poked at Izumi’s leg. “You can’t be a complete wreck with etiquette, isn’t one of your moms part of the nobility? The cheery one?”

“Yes, but her standards are…exacting. And I knew if I got her involved she would make a production of it all. I wanted to get through this with a minimum of stress.”

Su flipped herself around so that her head rested in Izumi’s lap, looking up at the princess through the locks of hair that fell over her eyes. “It’s a big state dinner, I’m pretty sure those are nothing but stress. Just think of how miserable you’ll be able to make all the people who give you grief when you’re the Fire Lord,” she said.

“You never fail to inspire, Su.”

“Hey, how come you called me for this and not Kya or Lin? I’m not complaining about the vacation—I _really_ had to get out of that desert—but we were never super close when we were younger like you were with them.”

Her heart tightened up at that, and she was silent for several moments while she idly stroked Su’s hair. “Lin couldn’t get away from Republic City, Kya and I…still aren’t on speaking terms. I’m not sure we will be ever again.”

“Aww, come on, she doesn’t hate you.” She sat up and jumped off the couch. “Here, let’s try table manners again.”

‘Eat with the outermost flatware’ was the only thing Izumi could remember, but Su decided to quiz her out of order. “Which knife and fork do you use for sushi?” she asked.

“These?” Izumi reached for a pair, but Su smacked her hand away.

“Trick question! Chopsticks! Who raised you, wolves? Bears? My _mother_?”

“I could’ve asked her to come instead if I just wanted someone to yell at me!”

Rather than trade another barb, Su reached out and plucked Izumi’s glasses from her face. The whole world went blurry, and suddenly Su was little more than a collection of differently-colored blobs with a smooth voice. “Hey! Hey, I need those to see!”

“We’re going to get this ingrained on an instinctual level, no sight required,” Su said, clasping her hand and running her thumb over Izumi’s palm. “Huh. Awfully smooth for a firebender.”

“Lightningbending doesn’t produce as many calluses. Please give me back my glasses, you’re nothing but a big clump of green and brown right now.”

Su seemed reluctant to stop threading up their fingers, and Izumi was far from minding, but eventually she did and placed Izumi’s hand on each fork in turn. “Salad, fish, meat, dessert. Rice bowl and chopsticks up here by your sushi plate. Soup spoon out here, next to the knives,” she said, leaning down so that her cheek bumped against Izumi’s, flooding it with redness and warmth. “Once more. “Salad, fish— _ah_!”

A few sparks flew from Izumi’s fingertips, leaping from one fork to the next until she clenched her fist to snuff them. The little hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and even without being able to see she was sure Su’s hair didn’t look any better than hers now. “Is there any part of this evening we can practice where you won’t try to injure me? Conversation, we’ll try conversation…let me smooth out all this frizz first…”

Izumi was only vaguely aware of the blurry mess that was Su moving around her room, over to the mirror and then back to the seat across from her. “All right. What do you think of the new trade deal between the Water Tribes and the United Republic?”

She proved slightly more adept at handling questions and weaving around the ways Su tried to trick her into saying something untoward, but she still got her hands whacked every time she reached for her glasses on the other side of the table. “Come on, give them back!”

“You don’t need to see to talk. As a matter of fact, it heightens your other senses, my mom told me so.”

“She’s been blind her whole life, how would she know?”

“Not sure. That should be about everything you could get grilled on, just remember to give the canned answers and you’ll be fine. And now, at the risk of you breaking my toes, we need to try the dancing again. Wait here.”

Su ducked out of the room, taking Izumi’s glasses with her. All she could really do without them was drum her fingers across the table, counting the different forks and committing their placement to memory. There were an extra pair of glasses in her nightstand, but getting there without tumbling over something would be a challenge. Slowly, she got to her feet and tried to orient herself, recalling each piece of furniture and all the little things laying about on the floor.

“Where are you going? You’re liable to hurt yourself without these, here.”

Her other senses were most certainly not heightened, because Su was able to get back into the room without her knowing. She pressed her glasses into Izumi’s hand and waited for her to put them back on. “Where in the world did you find that?”

“Hall closet,” Su said, waving her hands to make the arms of the kimono flutter. “I thought some verisimilitude might help you get into it easier.”

“You know that’s a men’s kimono, right? I think it might be my father’s…”

“Not important! Come on, one hand out here, the other on my shoulder. Your right foot is going back on this first motion, ready?”

“Where did you find steel-toe boots?”

“And one, two, three, one two three, one two three, there you go! Just don’t look at my feet and focus on the movements. Now there’s a little twirl here after eight cycles, so I bring our hands up like this—”

She spun Izumi around, putting her in what felt like a rather awkward hug from behind, breathing heavily while Su rested in the crook of her shoulder. Neither of them tried to move back into their starting position, and after a moment Su’s hands drifted down to wrap tightly around her waist. She tensed up when Su pressed a light kiss into her neck, but then she relaxed into it, tilting her head to give her more access. With a weak smile, Izumi wondered why she had such a bad habit of attracting free spirits.

“Is this to keep me from stepping on your toes?” she asked quietly.

“We can go with that, if you like…”

Her voice was low and breathy, almost painfully reminiscent. It really wasn’t fair to either of them to pretend Su was Kya, but the thrumming in her chest put her well past caring. Izumi turned in place so that they could face each other. “I had such a crush on you when we were younger,” Su murmured, her hands trembling on Izumi’s back.

Suddenly the bed in the corner of her room seemed terribly empty. “Had?”

“Well…”


	6. Day Six: AU

The tavern was dim, dusty, and possessed of an overpowering stench of ale, like almost every other inn and pub and tavern all up and down the coast. Izumi grinned. Perfect for them. A bald, heavily tattooed barman at the counter blanched when he saw how many people were spilling in, crowding the already cramped space further. Izumi dropped a small bag of money into her first mate’s hand and strolled inside. “Rooms, meals and drinks for everyone, you know the routine.”

Asami nodded and went to the bar while her crew claimed one of the tavern’s long tables for themselves. Some of them struck up with another group at the next table who were already whistling some shanty or other, and Izumi found a smaller, quieter table in the corner for herself. There was only one other person on the far side of the table to share it with, a pretty, dark-skinned woman around her age with a knife balanced point-down on the tip of her finger. She noticed Izumi watching after a moment and flipped it over so she was holding it by the hilt. “Want to give it a try?”

“I’ve got my own, thanks,” Izumi said, producing three smaller daggers from her sleeve. She flicked her wrist and they buried themselves in a straight line on the wall. “And I only throw them.”

The woman nodded and extended her hand. “Kya.”

“Izumi. Is one of those ships out there yours?” she asked as she rapped on the window looking out on the harbor.

“ _Southern Cloud_ , the redwood getting repaired at the south end—thank you, Korra,” Kya said to the woman dropping off a glass of sake. “My first mate. You?”

She pointed to the ship with the dragon on the golden field of her flag. “ _Dawnlight_. Stopped in to…offload some cargo,” Izumi said, unable to keep a straight face. Little markets like these were only good for selling things honest merchants wouldn’t touch. Kya nodded and smirked along with her. “Shipping lanes are awfully heavy this year.”

“Everyone’s sending something somewhere.”

It was their little parlance, the common code that had come about so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of law-abiding folk. Izumi relaxed as Asami delivered her drink and kicked back in her seat. “So what did you get?” she asked, taking a stiff pull of the baijiu and draining half the glass at once.

“Spices. Most of it stinks, but it was valuable enough to have a naval escort. Then my idiot friend nearly blew my ship out of the water before she realized it was me,” Kya said, rolling her eyes. “You?”

“Ambergris coming back from the northern sea. If you think spice stinks…it’s enough to retire on, actually. We broke the bank at the last two places and finally finished selling it here.” Izumi took another sip of her drink. “I’m having far too much fun to quit, though.”

Everyone at the long tables erupted in laughter at something the two of them missed. Asami seemed to have found her way next to Kya’s first mate, and everyone else seemed to be getting along. Better than a fight, at least. “Those aren’t all yours, are they?” Izumi asked. “It’d be quite a big crew for a corvette.”

“Just the ones in blue, the others are—”

The door burst open and one woman stumbled in, hauling another over her shoulder. Kya groaned as she was dropped unceremoniously into one of the remaining empty seats at their table. Izumi raised an eyebrow. The woman was another cute one around their age and clearly well into her cups, alternately giggling and teetering like she was ready to fall asleep.

“My idiot friend’s.”

“Thanks, Kuvira,” the woman said, waving off her younger companion. “Oh, and some kaoliang. Kya! What’re the odds of finding you here?”

“Considering you put a cannonball in my hull, pretty damn good,” she grumbled. “Not that you’ll remember, but this is Izumi. Izumi, this is Su. Her ship’s out there, the sorry heap at the north end of the harbor. _Zaofu_. She’s a real pain in the navy’s ass when she’s sober, although I’m not sure how long it’s been since then.”

Su looked at her carefully, leaning over so much that Izumi thought she might fall into her lap, then narrowed her eyes and turned to her friend. “You work fast, don’t you?”

Kya’s grip tightened around her glass, and a little color rose in her cheeks. “You’re lucky the sake here is so expensive, otherwise you’d be wearing it.”

“Waste of good liquor.” She turned unsteadily back to Izumi. “Where’re you from, anyway? Yellow eyes aren’t very common around here.”

“They’re amber,” Izumi said, somewhat more defensively than she intended. “I’m from a little ways west of here, since you’re curious. Haven’t been to the eastern kingdoms in a few years, I forgot how…profitable these shipping lanes could be.”

Su nodded and looked like she was about to say something, but threw a hand over her mouth instead and ran to the bathroom. Everyone in earshot cringed when she retched, apart from her first mate at the table beside Asami and Korra, who only rolled her eyes.

“On that…lovely note,” Izumi said, drawing her first finger in a slow circle around the rim of her glass, “how fast do you normally work?”

Kya pursed her lips and ran a hand through her hair. “I’m going to kill that lush one these days, I swear,” she said before cracking a nervous smile. “I was just looking for some friendly conversation, honest.”

“That’s too bad.” Izumi nudged the empty chair beside her out slightly. “I wasn’t.”

There wasn’t time for Kya to do much beyond giving her a wry grin before Su burst back into the main room, sober as a judge and pointing wildly at the door. “Anyone who doesn’t want to meet my sister should get moving, now!”

Her whole crew bolted at her words, with some of them jumping out of the windows so they didn’t get jammed at the door. Kya calmly finished her drink while her own crew looked around nervously. “What’s going on?” Izumi asked. “Who’s her sister?”

“Oh, just an admiral with an ax to grind with folks like us. And on an unrelated, purely hypothetical note, how much would passage be on your very seaworthy ship for me and my crew?”

Izumi looked over to the tables where their crews were getting to their feet. She wasn’t in the habit of blindly trusting a fellow pirate—goodness knew how many people had made that mistake—but there was such a thing as professional courtesy. At least, that was how she justified her more personal interest. “I’m sure we can work something out.”

She grinned, but a cannonball tearing through the upper level cut short any thanks she could have mustered. “I hope none of you were fighting with our generous new hosts,” Kya said, diving away from a falling piece of the ceiling. She clasped Izumi’s hand as she stood up. Firm grip, Izumi thought. Warm. “Well, lead the way, Captain.”

Two heavy frigates flying the royal flag were at the mouth of the harbor, firing a coordinated volley from each gun deck. Cannonballs flew nonstop into the buildings around them and into some of the ships anchored at the docks, but _Dawnlight_ had already been turned around and presented only a narrow profile to the attacking ships. “Mako!” Izumi shouted to her helmsman, still on the deck to take inventory. “Gangplank! Get the gangplank!”

He and his brother almost threw it onto the dock as a cannonball went soaring into the water nearby. Asami and Korra skidded to a halt and made sure their crews were safely aboard before running onto the deck themselves, and their captains followed quickly after as the market started burning and crumbling behind them under the assault.

 _Zaofu_ was already weaving a wild path through the harbor, firing a salvo from her starboard deck to kick up a plume of water near the frigates. They started turning her way, and Mako and Asami had the good sense to capitalize on that and pulled _Dawnlight_ to the other side of the harbor. Their new passengers helped raise the sails, and the wind carried them away from the firing line in short order.

“No sisterly affection, I see,” Izumi said, watching from the quarterdeck as _Zaofu_ exchanged fire with the navy ships. “Hug the southern coast and run the blockade.”

A cannonball flew wide and struck _Southern Cloud_ behind them, ripping through her hull and letting water flow into her lower decks. Kya gripped the railing and seethed in silence, relaxing only when Izumi put a hand on her shoulder.

“I _liked_ that ship,” she said through clenched teeth. “Damn you, Lin.”

With their fire still drawn, the frigates were in no position to turn their attentions on them as they snuck out through the south end of the harbor. A woman with a pair of long scars on her cheek in admiral’s blues stood on the foredeck of the closer ship, watching silently as _Dawnlight_ crossed into the open sea. She cut a rather more intimidating figure than her sister, but that might have been entirely due to her being able to stand without swaying from side to side. Her flagship began turning to take up a firing line on them, but they got themselves behind an outcropping before the frigate could get a bead on them.

“They’ll move in to sweep the market, we should be safe for now,” Kya said. _Zaofu_ was visible in the distance, moving to disappear over the horizon. “I don’t know why you decided to let us on board, but thank you. We would’ve been helpless in port otherwise.”

“Honor among thieves, I suppose. And somehow I knew you’d make it worth my while.”

Kya cocked an eyebrow. “Well, far be it from me to not live up to expectations…should we retire to discuss the details?”

“I guess we should,” Izumi said, taking her hand and leading her toward her quarters. “Miss Sato, you have the deck. No interruptions.”


	7. Day Seven: Sass & Glass

“And let’s see…ah! You hit the badger mole for seven points of damage. Did you want to do anything else before your turn ends?”

Izumi looked up from behind her screen to the rest of the table. Bumi scratched his head and scanned his character sheet again. “I can try to shoot it again, right?”

“Sure, roll to hit. You need at least a twelve to make the second shot.”

Lin passed him the die and he tossed it across the table, only to grimace when it landed with the one facing up. Kya pinched the bridge of her nose, and Lin whacked him on the back of the head. “Sorry Bumi, your bowstring snaps and hits you in the face, costing you your next two turns. Three points of damage.”

“Oh come on, how could a Yuyan archer let that happen?” he asked, turning his little figurine on its side.

She shrugged. “High risk, high reward. You’re up next, Kya.”

“Well, at the risk of doing something else so monumentally stupid—”

Bumi crossed his arms.

“Let’s try and freeze the badger mole in its tracks.” She took the die, rolling it between her fingers for a moment as she sized up the game board in front of them. The field their characters were in had a stream running nearby, but it was far enough away that she needed a fairly high roll to bring enough over and stop their opponent. Lin’s character was on the other side of the field and an earthbender besides, quite unable to lend any passive help. Izumi had tried to warn them about how a smaller party should specialize rather than spread their talents out, but they insisted on playing characters like themselves. She checked the chart on the inside of her screen.

“All right, roll to hit. Fourteen or more.”

Kya didn’t toss the die as much as spin it to avoid striking the game pieces, then smirked when it finally stopped on seventeen. “How’s that?”

“You bring a large flow of water up from the river and freeze it around the badger mole’s feet,” Izumi said, placing a blue token beside the badger mole figurine. “It’s not happy about that, but it can’t do much besides snarl and try to break free, which…”

She rolled another die behind her screen. “Doesn’t work. You get a few minutes’ respite to regroup and recover, use it wisely.”

Lin helped Bumi restring his bow while Kya healed them both. Izumi quietly rolled her own die every time the three of them took an action, and the threshold was getting lower with each bad roll. Finally she hit a sixteen and took the freeze token off the badger mole.

“Oh, whoops, it broke free,” she said, making a note of where their figurines were on the board. “Roll initiative again.”

“Wait, what?” Bumi asked.

“You guys just left it sitting there, what did you think would happen?”

Kya and Bumi both missed their attacks, and then it was Lin’s turn. No matter how much Izumi tried to explain that they were playing a campaign set in Avatar Roku’s time, Lin was adamant about playing a metalbending character, even after being told there simply weren’t any guidelines for it yet. She’d had to cobble something together quickly to get Lin to play with them, a crude mix of waterbending and earthbending rules, and Lin seemed happy enough with that. “I want to hit it with a metal bolt.”

“Okay, but if you miss this shot, its ability activates and it’s going to charge the three of you. Because you bunched up. Which was unwise. As I told you—”

“Just give me the die.”

Lin went and flicked it against Izumi’s screen, rattling the notes she had carefully pinned all over it. She glared and leaned over to see the result. “Natural twenty,” Izumi said, trying to ignore Lin’s annoyingly self-satisfied grin. “Your bolt shears off your armor and buries itself in between the badger mole’s eyes, doing…eighteen points of damage. It slumps over with a final groan and falls dead before it can rear back to charge.”

“That’s how it’s done.”

“Metalbending is overpowered,” Bumi said as Izumi took the badger mole token from the board and put it behind her screen with the others. “She threw the whole ruleset together in one night!”

Lin stuck her tongue out at him. “You agreed to play with these rules, don’t get all sore because I had to pull your butt out of the fire twice today.”

“I wouldn’t have needed saving if my bow didn’t keep breaking…so what do we find on the badger mole?”

“Um, badger mole meat. It’s an animal, it doesn’t have pockets. You should search the mercenaries you fought before it showed up while I figure out how many experience points you all get.”

They moved their tokens to the western end of the field where the mercenaries had fallen. “Okay, put two hundred points on your character sheets for the whole encounter.”

“Anything good on these guys?” Bumi asked.

“Seven gold pieces, their weapons, and a torch.”

Kya furrowed her brow as she wrote it down. “I want to roll perception to see if we can find anything else on them.”

She passed her check, which cut short the extra little mission Izumi had written out before they could get back to the campaign proper. “You find an extra pocket on the inside of one of their pants—don’t ask how—containing a bounty on your heads, and the place to go once you’ve been killed to collect payment.”

Bumi scoffed. “Why would anyone want to kill us? We’re great!”

“For inscrutable story reasons,” Lin said.

“Hey! No breaking the fourth wall!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! You may also enjoy my other stories:
> 
> [No Gods, No Masters](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3721117) \- What if the Red Lotus managed to kidnap an infant Korra? (Finished!)  
> [Kyoshi: Swan Song](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5248682) \- Avatar Kyoshi recounts her life to Korra. (In Progress!)  
> [Burn It Out](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6463846) \- A oneshot gift for [HenryMercury](http://archiveofourown.org/users/HenryMercury) about Korra meeting a different old lady in Book 4.  
> [Prompt Madness](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5181146) \- All the drabble prompts I get on [my tumblr](http://fell-dragon-domain.tumblr.com/) in one simple document.


End file.
